Orton Chirwa, born Orton Edgar Ching'oli Chirwa on 30 January 1919, was a lawyer and political leader in colonial Nyasaland and after independence became Malawi's Minister of Justice and Attorney General.[1] After a dispute with Malawi's autocratic president Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, he and his wife Vera were exiled. After being kidnapped abroad they were tried in Malawi on charges of treason and sentenced to death. After spending nearly eleven years on death row in Malawi Orton Chirwa died in prison on 20 October 1992.[2]
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He qualified as a lawyer in 1958. He was an advocate and law lecturer in Tanzania from 1964-81.[3]
In 1959 the British Colonial Government banned the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) and arrested most of the political party's leaders, including Dr. Banda.[4] Orton Chirwa created a new political movement called the Malawi Congress Party(MCP) and became its first president. When Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda was released from Gwelu Prison in 1960, Orton Chirwa together with other NAC leaders invited Banda to stand for President of the MCP.[5] Chirwa stood down as president and Dr. Banda took over the leadership of the Malawi Congress Party which subsequently led Malawi to independence in 1964.[6]
Orton Chirwa became independent Malawi's Minister of Justice and Attorney General in 1964.[7] Banda and Chirwa disagreed over the slow pace of African advancement in the civil service and following a cabinet crisis when Banda consolidated his presidency and turned the country into a one-party state, Vera Chirwa and Orton Chirwa were declared enemies of the state, going into exile shortly after.[8]
Forced by Banda's authoritarian policies to leave Malawi, the Chirwas settled in Tanzania where Orton taught and practiced law. He formed a new political party, the Malawi Freedom Movement, which appears to have had little active support inside Malawi, a one-party state with Banda its president for life. During a visit to Zambia with their youngest son Fumabani the Chirwas were arrested for allegedly trying to enter Malawi.[9] On Christmas Eve 1981, they were kidnapped in the East of Zambia by Malawi security forces and taken back to Malawi for charges of high treason. The Chirwas, both laywers, conducted their own defense. After a trial lasting 2 months, they were found guilty even though none of the evidence against them was proved. They were both sentenced to death and taken to the notorious central prison in Zomba (a prison with a terrible reputation).
In Zomba Prison Orton Chirwa was held in solitary confinement and not allowed any outside contact. For eight years he was not even permitted to see his wife Vera who was being held in the same prison.[10] In 1990 Amnesty International launched an investigation into their fate. In autumn 1992, when a delegation of British legal experts was allowed to visit Orton and Vera at the prison, the Chirwas were able to meet again for the first time in 8 years. According to the British lawyers, at the time of the meeting he was partially deaf and blind due to untreated cataracts.[11] Orton died in his cell 3 weeks later at the age of 73.